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A delegation from Côte d'Ivoire visits the University of Basel
On Monday, the University of Basel received the Ivorian Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Adama Diawara. There has been significant research cooperation between Switzerland and Côte d'Ivoire for many years, in which the university is closely involved.
27 June 2023
On Monday, June 26, the University of Basel welcomed a delegation of high-ranking representatives from Côte d'Ivoire. They were received by Professor Torsten Schwede, Vice President for Research of the University of Basel, and by the evolutionary biologist Professor Walter Salzburger, who has been researching the emergence of biodiversity in Africa for years.
The meeting took place as part of a several-day trip by a delegation led by Adama Diawara, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research. In addition to ministry representatives, the delegation included higher education leaders and delegates from FONSTI, the Ivorian research funding agency. Modeled after the Swiss National Science Foundation, FONSTI supports scientific research and technological innovation programs and projects that impact Côte d'Ivoire's socioeconomic and cultural development. Today, the West African country is considered a role model for research in the region.
The exchange was driven by the intention to deepen cooperation, expand the strategic partnership and intensify research collaboration. Countries like Côte d'Ivoire, which have achieved high growth rates in recent years, are among Switzerland's preferred partners in the sub-Saharan region.
But concrete questions were also raised: How can academic formation be made accessible to as many people as possible so that intellectual potential can be optimally utilized? How should academic training be designed to ensure entry into the labor market? And how do the results of research reach the economy and society?
Leading House Africa
On behalf of the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI), the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), in collaboration with the University of Basel, is the Leading House for bilateral research collaboration with partner institutions in Africa. Since 2007 they have been fulfilling the mandate to promote and intensify cooperation between Swiss and African researchers. This includes scientific collaborations (projects, mobility, teaching assignments and research stays) as well as innovation instruments that enable the translation of research into market applications.
Scientific relations between the two countries go back a long way: in 1951, the Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques en Côte d'Ivoire (CSRS) was founded, and since its inception, it has maintained close cooperation with the Swiss TPH and other players in African research in Switzerland. Of the West African countries, Switzerland maintains the closest scientific relations with Côte d'Ivoire. In 2021, the canton of Basel-Stadt signed a framework agreement with Abidjan, the largest urban agglomeration in Côte d'Ivoire, to jointly develop the areas of healthcare, the labor market, urban infrastructure, education, sports and culture.
The day began for the delegation with a visit to the Swiss TPH, and in the afternoon, the program included a reception by the government of the Canton of Basel-Stadt at Basel City Hall. In the coming days, the delegation will also visit the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences, SERI, the funding agency Innosuisse, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the Swiss National Science Foundation and the EPF Lausanne. The general objective of the visit is to strengthen scientific cooperation between Côte d'Ivoire and Switzerland.
